New York Tribune.(New York, NY) 1920-07-25.¦lands and remete centuries to capture some of the ¡und...
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THEATERS . MOTION PICTURES MUSIC Mft STtifai PAKT III SIX PAGES RESORTS .TRAVEL ART SUNDAY, JULY 25, 1920 PART III SIX PAGES ïïhe STAGE and Its PEOPLE As We Were Saying. By Heywood Broun COME SEVEN" seems to us a of no great dramatic anee, and yet it a step in the right Erection, it serves to scratch or.e of the riel which lies open for the American dramatist. Almost noth- '^ro has been written for oui Here bow is a people rich onal qualities which make for drama, and our playwrights pass by on the other side. They far journeys to distant ¦lands and remete centuries to capture some of the ¡und qualities of feeling ud expression which might be found in the very men who run our elevators. To be sure, the negro appears now and aga.ri in our plays, but invariably ical figure. Our playwrights that anybody who laughs must or necessity be a ky comic figure" In six «. York seasons Ridge ly only author, to the ction, who has made the negro except on the rce. the negro often uses which he does not under- craps and, perhaps, even he joke book tradition in fondess for watermelon, were in depths which are the exploitation of any lalil ies. The tragic and of this race which compulsory a'.ienship is consistently overlooked. Prob¬ ably this is defensive. Of course, we all know perfectly well that there is a negro problem, but our dramatists make us forget to worry about it by assuring us that the negro does not care a rap about economic or political equality if only he can have fried chicken and a little jazz music. The theater enables us to overlook every wrong thing we have ever done to the negro by presenting him as a man who is having a perfectly hilarious time. It cannot be said that "Come Seven" presents any other conception. Its ne¬ groes are the traditional folk who ask for our merriment and nothing more. Scratch any character in the play and you will catch nothing more than a burnt cork comedian. "Come Seven" marks a step forward only in that it is written with the confident assumption that the theatrical public may be inter¬ ested in a play which deals with negro characters only. Unfortunately, there is little variation in the folk presented. The play might well have been the work of the song w si ter who composed the once popular ditty "All Coons Look Alike to Me." The one performance in the play which seemed to us to capture a sug¬ gestion of authenticity was that of Lucille La Verne. One or two other per¬ formances were facile and clever, no¬ tably that of Earle Foxe, but they kept to the surface, like most cork products. "What is a Revue r Is Being Asked as the Summer Music Productions Begin Runs ^%NE wonders, as he takes his place \£j in the orchestra circle of a Broad¬ way theater to see the latest mu- "«al comedy productions and behold of vaudeville "sister" teams come and go *>ut the length of the program °ne wonders just how long vaudeville is Wing to hold up under what must be Bow a real drain upon its performers. isual condition has existed ftronghout the last winter reason and nent in almost every »-«ailed "revue" in the city, and unless, theatrical men aro going to be swamped r revue" throughout ¦*Qxl winter for severa! seasons to ¡lie continue to con¬ to them*" revue? It should dhere to the recognized meaning °* the term, ntation of some- :nir'E v n done by another in the Broadway "re- little of "reviewing." n 'act, almost everything that is done, from the regular acts of vaude- 1:lp. is something very much futuristic ;n design rather than something that "R3 tli:** :; the past and now is being viewed again. The theatrical producers no doubt a 'nappy idea when they high class vaudc- ippear, using their vaude- '« acts ¡n musical compdy perform- We« which they were to stajje as "re- Ms." But not only one or two of these "fgan'.zation.i contained vaudeville acts -fom the first curtain to the last, but I'lmost all of them did it/ There were »Oae producers who abandoned entirely, »PPc-ared, any thought of keeping a *«ain thread of thought or "plot," lit- 'e »a a musical comedy production need .'ave a P'ot, but sacrificed everything 10 the popular appeal that might be Sained by the presentation of rollicking Wng and dance numbers or a half-doxcn Cerent girl and music acts straight from the vaudeville circuits. A« we consider* this drift vaudeville- *&r<l in the musical comedy stage, we ei* back and wonder where the men have gone who wrote and staged those great musical extravaganzas of other times. Have they stopped writing theatrical productions? The revue, as you may or may not know, is an ihiportation from France, originally, and was supposed to con- sist of a succession of burlesqued productions of parts of the season's successes. This is what the "Follies"' was in its tirst few seasons. At the Winter Garden, also, the original idea of the "revues of 19 so and so" was that actors should reproduce in satire and in burlesque the most sue- cessful of the Broadway plays and musical productions of the current or past year. By many those Winter Garden performances were said to be the best of anything ever staged there. But the path has been deserted. In place of mock performances there is one long succession of vaudeville in most of the theaters housing musical comedy to-day. No one would be so untruthful as to say that the present vaudevilJized productions are without merit. The fact is that in a great many instances 'the variety stars have drawn the greatest amount of praise in the re- views and criticisms of the New York newspapers. The question is whether there is going to be an end of it. or whether the vaudeville circuits will be forced to resort to methods unknown heretofore to hold their performers. Finds 32 "Id«e«l Men" to Wed There are at least thirty-two men in the United States who consider them¬ selves "ideal men to marry." Colleen Moore, a screen star, was quoted recently by a news service on the qualifications of the "¡deal man." Before she would consider marrying, she explained, every one of the speci¬ fications would have to be fulfilled. To date thirty-two men have written or ttlegrsphed to her that they can qual¬ ify. Long distance telephone calls even carried some of the assurances to the young woman. She has not as yet decided which of them shall be the lucky one. Not Unduly Elated Over Record Run; 'Lightnin V Leading Lady Tells Why 0 HAVE played the leading rôle in a Broadway play that has been running for almost tyo years ough't to delight any actress. Beatrice Nichols, the leading woman in "Light- nin'," holds this enviable record, yet makes the confession that she is not excessively happy over it at all. A long season In New York is what every player is always yearning for, and it might reasonably be assumed that Miss Nichols was an exceptionally happy and contented actress, since the play has been at the Gaiety since August 26, 1918, and seems destined to remain in New York indefinitely. This charming and to every one but herself» more than fortunate young woman made some interesting revela¬ tions on the occasion of the 800th per¬ formance of "Lightnin'." "How does it feel," she was ques¬ tioned, "to be in a play that has broken the world's record for continuous per¬ formances at one theater in one city?" "Of course,-' said Miss Nichols, "I have always wanted to be on Broadway, but to have played rilo re than eight hun¬ dred times in a part I em not nappy in is a great disappointment, for the strug¬ gle to reach Broadway has been a par¬ ticularly roundabout journey for me." Meeting a look of mingled surprise and wonder, she hurried to explain: "I have always played and always felt happily suited in ingenue roles of a comedy character type, such as Teg o' My Heart,' and when I reached my goal my reward was a 'straight' part. An¬ other thing: I've always been cra::y about clothes, a woman's privilege, you must admit, and the only clothes 1 can wear in 'Lightnin' ' are shirtwaists and skirts. Please understand that I don't put clothes above acting, but I do want a part that gives me both the chance to do what I feel that I can do best and wear either the latest modes or rags, anything but shirtwaists and skirts, for I hate 'em." The remark that her Broadway début was attained by a "particularly round¬ about" journey piqued curiosity. "I started as an amateur in Boston, my home town," she said, "and, would you believe it, my very first appear¬ ance was as the prima donna in a musical comedy! I sometimes wonder at my childish courage, for I wouldn't dare sing a note now. I had always been crazy about the stage, so after my musical début I started out in earnest and succeeded in getting with the Castle Square Stock Company when it was under the direction of Win- throp Ames. "From Boston I went to Los Angeles, where I stayed for a long time with % lUbafs OHM! in Slew Vork Cheaters BOOTH."Not So Long Ago." Period comedy. BROADHURST."Come Seven." Blackface farce. CENTRAL.See new theatrical offerings. CENTURY -"Florodora," revived after twenty years. CENTURY PROMENADE."The Century Revue" at 9 and "The Midnight Round¬ ers" at 11:30. COHAN."Silks and Satins." More summer entertainment. COHAN & HARRIS."Honey Girl." "Checkers" put to music. CORT. "Abraham Lincoln," poetic, historical drama. CRITERION."Humoresque." A motion picture. DANSE DE FOLLIES.Art Hickman's band. Ziegfeld Midnight Frolic. GAIETY- -"Lightnin'," Frank Bacon ;n comedy of Reno's divorce industry. GLOBE.George White's "ScandaU of 1920." Summer entertainment. HENRY MILLER'S "The Famous Mrs. Fair," Henry Miller and "Blanche Bates. KNICKERBOCKER.-"The Girl in tiie Spotlight," Victor Herbert musical comedy. LIBERTY.'"The Night Boat," musical, farcical comedy. LITTLE "Foot-Loose," story of an adventuress. LYCEUM."The Gold Diggers." Ina Claire in a comedy of chorus girl life. NEW AMSTERDAM."Ziegfeld Follies." Fourteenth of che series. NORA BAYES*-"Lassie.'' Unique Scotch musical comedy. PLAYHOUSE "Seeing Thing:-." Farce by Margaret Mayo and Aubrey Kennedy. SELWY.N.Ed. Wynn Carnival. Girls, music and comedy. VANDERBILT."Irene," girl and music comedy. WINTER GARDEN "Cinderella on Broadway." Extravaganza. Oliver Morosco's stock companies. Then followed a long tour of Australia in current American successes in cne of J. (.'. Williamson's companies, headed by Hale Hamilton. From the An¬ tipodes the route leads back to the Pacific Coast, where I played in the Klaw &. Erlanger company, appearing in such plays as 'Here Comes the Bride' and 'Under Pressure' i, later called 'The Love Drive'), which were running simultaneously in New York. "Then after having traveled from Boston across the continent to Los Angeles, from there to Australia, back to California for a tour of the Coast cities between Los Angeles and San Francisco, 1 finally reached New York, and the Gaiety Theatre has been my 'business address' ever since. I owe nil my present success to Winchell Smith and John Golden, the producers. That certainly is a 'roundabout' way to Broadway, don't you think? I dare¬ say few other players have gone- so far afield to reach the Mecca of Ameri¬ can actors.", Louise Huff in "Fine Feathers" Louise HuiT has been engaged by the Metro Film Corporation to appear in the all-star cast in the forthcoming picturization of Eugene Walter's "Fine Feathers." The picture is being adapted by Caroline Rosenthal from the stage drama. From Bowery Stage to Broadway in a Day, Is This Girl's Record From the Bowery and Second Avenue to Broadway is the change that came yesterday into the professional life of a young eighteen-year-old singer of the East Side, when Morris Gest, theatrical impresario, placed her under contract to appear in "Mecca," which F. Ray Corn- stock and Morris Gest will present at the Century Jheater in September. The young woman's name is Hannah Toback; she is of Russian parentage, her father being a musician from Vilna, Russia; she has been playing small parts in the Jewish theaters of the East Side since she was eight years old, and possesses a voice of sweetness and purity that attracted Mr. Gest. Miss Toback came to Mr. Gest in his office at the Manhattan Opera House yesterday to ask for an appointment. An accompanist was in the theater and Miss Toback sang for him immediately. She sang three songs and Mr. Gest had a contract for five years drawn up im¬ mediately. Miss Toback made her stage début as a child actress in Thomashefsky's pro¬ duction, "Blind Love." Since then she has supported the best known Jewish actors of the East Side, notably Kess¬ ler, Âdler and Benami. Gail Kane Spends Spare Time Removing Negro Tan of "Come Seven !" EFORE she "began playing the role of Vistar Coins, the leader of the younger set of the negro belies of the South in "Come Seven!" now at the Broadhurst Theater, Gail Kane says the most difficult feature she found about acting on the legiti¬ mate stage was how she_should spend her spare time. . This knotty problem confronted her every day, because she has just re- turned to the stage after several years in motion picture studios, where she worked strenuously. Her impression, gathered while she was working for the screen devotees, is that camera work is mainly a matter of perspira¬ tion, not inspiration. However, her experience, though it did affect her eyes, failed to impair the liveliness of her disposition. In "Come Seven!" Miss Kane has no difficulty in making use of her spare time. Leisure moments she spends in removing vestiges of the make-up, for the brown coloring required by the character Vistar Coins, in which she v.ears a décolleté gown, must not only be applied to the face, but to arms and back and chest as well. It is a very light brown make-up, for she is a "high yaller girl." But whenever any one looks at her for more than a flash glance she wonders what spot on her fatee she has missed in applying the do!d cream to erase the dusky Vistar. "Acting on the stage has a much greater stimulus," Miss Kane remarked the other day in her home. "In your studio you have nothing to spur you on except, perhaps, some coldly critical stagehands and maybe a few sightseers who insist on saying: 'Oh, what are they doing now?' or else, 'Oh, isn't it silly!' "Of course it's silly if you don't know the story. But it would be hopeless to take any curiosity seekers and try to shake the story into their heads. I know; I've tried with some of them. I don't mind playing before people I know, but when strangers come along.well, I could just choke them! "That self-consciousness before on¬ lookers was something I never quite got over," she went on, "no inatter how- many times I've taken my position be¬ fore the camera.though ordinarily I'm not afraid of the public when I am on the stage. They may have said I was 'upstage,' but, just the same, I couldn't get used to having a lot of bystanders." "I did many Interiors, which1 shel¬ tered me a lot from running the gant¬ let of the streets. I didn't do any thrillers. In fact, the most exciting things I did in the movies were to ride horseback and swim." According to Fairy Mary Milburn, of "Girl in Spotlight," Real Heroine of Her Plav yoob ONT take on 50 about the .JlUi girl next door who sings the |r¿¿2j scales morning, noon and *^" night. Some day she may be the girl in the spotlight. Remember M*iry Milburn. Neighbors out in Flatbush used to agonize.or pretend to.while Mary was practicing heavy parts in French, Italian and German opera. Now they flock to "The Girl in the Spotlight" at the Knickerbocker Theater for the voice they used to hear unwillingly. They pay and they "love it," as P'annie Brice says. And Mary isn't the only attraction for the former neighbors--"former'' because Mary doesn't live in Flatbush now, but on Manhattan's upper West Side within taxi distance of the thea¬ ter belt. There's also Ann Milburn, her seventeen-year-old sister, who has just made her appearance an exceed¬ ingly attractive one--in the chorus of "The Girl in the Spotlight." Ann used to scout for the Italian with the hand organ who acted as orchestra when Mary would produce "Nick Carter" or "A Modern Cinderella" or "Romeo and iuliet" on the back yard stage. Then she would collect the potatoes from the public that passed the soap bos ticket office into the show. And aftei the performance, with the box offic« feeding a bonfire, Ann would help roas the potatoes. Yes, the neighbors ad mit now, as they join the line or Broadway, that Ann, too,' is decided!; an attraction. George W. Lederer. producer of "Th« Girl in the Spotlight," says that Mar; Milburn will be a star in anothe year. And so just for the benerit 0 any girl who is a year or two remove« from the spotlight, let Mary tell ho\ she got her first job. And incidental! the story of her career is very like tha of the part of the Greenwich Villag girl that she plays in Mr. Lederer' production. Mary was born in the village in th little house still numbered 7 Mac dougal Alley. Her real name is M< Kirvey and h,er father is a retired caj tain of the metropolitan police fore .'and I wearied the arm of every hurd; gurdy man that came near Macdoug; ¡Alley." The family moved to Flatbush. Mai became the leading woman in the dr matic society ef Holy Innocents paru 'and star of the back yard circuit. Wh< she was old enough to wear her ha upon lier héVl she got a job as a rapher at $15 a week and spent 1 her salary on her voice and < the piano and the languages of opera. "I-worked on heavy parts in 'Sam¬ son and Dalila.' 'Trovatore,' 'Gioconda* and 'Aida,' and at last hit the trail for the Shubert offices, the Frohmaus and all the big producers. But some¬ how I could never get past the office boy. Then I tried the telephone. I got Arthur Hammerstein's office on the wire and inquired whether he ever had any public hearing?. "'Yes. every Tuesday at the Casino Theater.' I was told. "At that time Mr. Hammerstein was gathering his ensemble for 'Furs and Frills.' On the next Tuesday I was at the Casino. So were a hundred other girls and more.all expecting to get a try-out. Every girl had a chape¬ ron but me. 1 was alone. 1 had prac¬ ticed a very difficult aria and was all primed, though badly scared. And would you believe it every one of the first thirty-odd girls sang my aria! " 'Come, come.' cried Mr. Hammer- ¿tein. any one else going to sing?' ".'Nobody peeped. Finally I up and spoke. 'I'll sing, if no one else is go- in;: to.' "'What experience have you?'' the ¡mpres; ri ai-ked. " 'Well,' Í said, feeling rather securo in my po; ition. 'I have been leading lady for the Holy Innocents Dramatic Society.' "He let out a whoop! 'Good Lord! You don't expect us to star you on the strength of that, do you? All right, go on. sin« "1 lost my nerve. The sheet of musi I ¦.. red as I passed it to the acccmpai '.*.. It was not the aria, but 'The Little Gray Hume in the West.' "I sang the bist ! could, but to me it seemed poor enough. As I finished Mr. Hammerstein laughed. One look at 1 is face and I ran out of the thea¬ ter as fast ;. 1 <¦ iu d. At Forty S reel 1 was overtaken by a man. "'Hey, there,' he called. 'Come back; Mr. Hammerstein wants to see you!' "'The way you laughed I didn't think you wanted me,' I explained to Mr. Hammerstein when 1 reached the stage. "'"What did you come her«; for?' ho asked. " 'Anything yeu'il give mc,' I re¬ plied. **'A11 right, you're in the chorus!' "And that was my first job! "After the season of 'Furs and Frills' 1 went out in Mr Cort's second 'Flo Fio' company. Then I ;;ot a job in the front row of 'Angel Face,' and later a »till better chance in 'Listen, Lester! ' ' And now »he's heroine *f "The Girl in the Spotlight"! i Rw theatrical Offerings of m íüeek ? TUESDAY.At the Central Theater, Forty-seventh Street and Broad- i! way Lew Fields presents Charles Purcell in "Poor Little Ritz Girl," X with Andrew Tombes. The piece Í3 a musical comedy of two acts I Öand four scenes; music by Richard C. Rodgers, lyrics by Lorenz M. o Hart, staged by Ned Wayburn. The cast includes Adele Cleave* f\ 5 Lulu McConnell, Florence Webber, Eleanor Griffith, Aileen Poe - U Eugenie Blair and Elise ßonwit.
Transcript of New York Tribune.(New York, NY) 1920-07-25.¦lands and remete centuries to capture some of the ¡und...
THEATERS . MOTION PICTURESMUSIC Mft STtifai
PAKT III SIX PAGES
RESORTS.TRAVELART
SUNDAY, JULY 25, 1920 PART III SIX PAGES
ïïhe STAGE andIts PEOPLE
AsWe Were Saying.By Heywood Broun
COME SEVEN" seems to us a
of no great dramaticanee, and yet ita step in the right
Erection, it serves to scratch or.e ofthe riel which lies open forthe American dramatist. Almost noth-
'^ro has been writtenfor ouiHere bow is a people rich
onal qualities whichmake for drama, and our playwrights
pass by on the other side. Theyfar journeys to distant
¦lands and remete centuries to capturesome of the ¡und qualities of feelingud expression which might be foundin the very men who run our elevators.To be sure, the negro appears now
and aga.ri in our plays, but invariablyical figure. Our playwrightsthat anybody who laughsmust or necessity be a
ky comic figure" In six«. York seasons Ridge ly
only author, to thection, who has made
the negro except on therce.
the negro often uses
which he does not under-craps and, perhaps, even
he joke book tradition infondess for watermelon,
were in depths which are
the exploitation of anylalil ies. The tragic and
of this race whichcompulsory a'.ienship
is consistently overlooked. Prob¬ably this is defensive. Of course, weall know perfectly well that there isa negro problem, but our dramatistsmake us forget to worry about it byassuring us that the negro does notcare a rap about economic or politicalequality if only he can have friedchicken and a little jazz music. Thetheater enables us to overlook everywrong thing we have ever done to thenegro by presenting him as a manwho is having a perfectly hilarioustime.
It cannot be said that "Come Seven"presents any other conception. Its ne¬groes are the traditional folk who askfor our merriment and nothing more.Scratch any character in the play andyou will catch nothing more than aburnt cork comedian. "Come Seven"marks a step forward only in that it iswritten with the confident assumptionthat the theatrical public may be inter¬ested in a play which deals with negrocharacters only. Unfortunately, thereis little variation in the folk presented.The play might well have been the workof the song w si ter who composed theonce popular ditty "All Coons LookAlike to Me."
The one performance in the playwhich seemed to us to capture a sug¬gestion of authenticity was that ofLucille La Verne. One or two other per¬formances were facile and clever, no¬
tably that of Earle Foxe, but they keptto the surface, like most cork products.
"What is a Revuer Is BeingAsked as the Summer Music
Productions Begin Runs^%NE wonders, as he takes his place\£j in the orchestra circle of a Broad¬
way theater to see the latest mu-"«al comedy productions and behold
of vaudeville "sister"teams come and go
*>ut the length of the program°ne wonders just how long vaudeville isWing to hold up under what must beBow a real drain upon its performers.
isual condition has existedftronghout the last winter reason and
nent in almost every»-«ailed "revue" in the city, and unless,
theatrical men aro
going to be swampedr revue" throughout
¦*Qxl winter for severa! seasons to¡lie continue to con¬
to them*"revue? It should
dhere to the recognized meaning°* the term, ntation of some-:nir'E v n done by another in
the Broadway "re-little of "reviewing."
n 'act, almost everything that is done,from the regular acts of vaude-
1:lp. is something very much futuristic;n design rather than something that"R3 tli:** :; the past and now is
being viewed again.The theatrical producers no doubt
a 'nappy idea when theyhigh class vaudc-
ippear, using their vaude-'« acts ¡n musical compdy perform-
We« which they were to stajje as "re-Ms." But not only one or two of these
"fgan'.zation.i contained vaudeville acts-fom the first curtain to the last, butI'lmost all of them did it/ There were»Oae producers who abandoned entirely,
»PPc-ared, any thought of keeping a*«ain thread of thought or "plot," lit-'e »a a musical comedy production need.'ave a P'ot, but sacrificed everything10 the popular appeal that might beSained by the presentation of rollickingWng and dance numbers or a half-doxcn
Cerent girl and music acts straightfrom the vaudeville circuits.A« we consider* this drift vaudeville-
*&r<l in the musical comedy stage, weei* back and wonder where the men
have gone who wrote and staged thosegreat musical extravaganzas of othertimes. Have they stopped writingtheatrical productions?The revue, as you may or may not
know, is an ihiportation from France,originally, and was supposed to con-
sist of a succession of burlesquedproductions of parts of the season'ssuccesses. This is what the "Follies"'was in its tirst few seasons. At theWinter Garden, also, the original ideaof the "revues of 19 so and so" was
that actors should reproduce insatire and in burlesque the most sue-
cessful of the Broadway plays andmusical productions of the current
or past year. By many those WinterGarden performances were said to bethe best of anything ever staged there.But the path has been deserted. In
place of mock performances there isone long succession of vaudeville inmost of the theaters housing musicalcomedy to-day.No one would be so untruthful as
to say that the present vaudevilJizedproductions are without merit. Thefact is that in a great many instances'the variety stars have drawn thegreatest amount of praise in the re-
views and criticisms of the New Yorknewspapers. The question is whetherthere is going to be an end of it. or
whether the vaudeville circuits will beforced to resort to methods unknownheretofore to hold their performers.Finds 32 "Id«e«l Men" to WedThere are at least thirty-two men in
the United States who consider them¬selves "ideal men to marry."
Colleen Moore, a screen star, was
quoted recently by a news service on
the qualifications of the "¡deal man."Before she would consider marrying,she explained, every one of the speci¬fications would have to be fulfilled. Todate thirty-two men have written or
ttlegrsphed to her that they can qual¬ify. Long distance telephone callseven carried some of the assurances tothe young woman. She has not as yetdecided which of them shall be thelucky one.
Not Unduly Elated OverRecord Run; 'LightninVLeading Lady Tells Why
0 HAVE played the leading rôlein a Broadway play that has beenrunning for almost tyo years
ough't to delight any actress. BeatriceNichols, the leading woman in "Light-nin'," holds this enviable record, yetmakes the confession that she is notexcessively happy over it at all.A long season In New York is what
every player is always yearning for, andit might reasonably be assumed thatMiss Nichols was an exceptionally happyand contented actress, since the play hasbeen at the Gaiety since August 26, 1918,and seems destined to remain in NewYork indefinitely.
This charming and to every one butherself» more than fortunate youngwoman made some interesting revela¬tions on the occasion of the 800th per¬formance of "Lightnin'.""How does it feel," she was ques¬
tioned, "to be in a play that has brokenthe world's record for continuous per¬formances at one theater in one city?""Of course,-' said Miss Nichols, "I
have always wanted to be on Broadway,but to have played rilo re than eight hun¬dred times in a part I em not nappy inis a great disappointment, for the strug¬gle to reach Broadway has been a par¬ticularly roundabout journey for me."
Meeting a look of mingled surpriseand wonder, she hurried to explain:
"I have always played and always felthappily suited in ingenue roles of a
comedy character type, such as Teg o'My Heart,' and when I reached my goalmy reward was a 'straight' part. An¬other thing: I've always been cra::yabout clothes, a woman's privilege, youmust admit, and the only clothes 1 can
wear in 'Lightnin' 'are shirtwaists and
skirts. Please understand that I don'tput clothes above acting, but I do wanta part that gives me both the chance todo what I feel that I can do best andwear either the latest modes or rags,anything but shirtwaists and skirts, forI hate 'em."The remark that her Broadway début
was attained by a "particularly round¬about" journey piqued curiosity.
"I started as an amateur in Boston,my home town," she said, "and, wouldyou believe it, my very first appear¬ance was as the prima donna in a
musical comedy! I sometimes wonderat my childish courage, for I wouldn'tdare sing a note now. I had alwaysbeen crazy about the stage, so aftermy musical début I started out inearnest and succeeded in getting withthe Castle Square Stock Company whenit was under the direction of Win-throp Ames."From Boston I went to Los Angeles,
where I stayed for a long time with
%lUbafs OHM! in Slew Vork Cheaters
BOOTH."Not So Long Ago." Period comedy.BROADHURST."Come Seven." Blackface farce.CENTRAL.See new theatrical offerings.CENTURY -"Florodora," revived after twenty years.CENTURY PROMENADE."The Century Revue" at 9 and "The Midnight Round¬
ers" at 11:30.COHAN."Silks and Satins." More summer entertainment.COHAN & HARRIS."Honey Girl." "Checkers" put to music.CORT. "Abraham Lincoln," poetic, historical drama.CRITERION."Humoresque." A motion picture.DANSE DE FOLLIES.Art Hickman's band. Ziegfeld Midnight Frolic.GAIETY- -"Lightnin'," Frank Bacon ;n comedy of Reno's divorce industry.GLOBE.George White's "ScandaU of 1920." Summer entertainment.HENRY MILLER'S "The Famous Mrs. Fair," Henry Miller and "Blanche Bates.KNICKERBOCKER.-"The Girl in tiie Spotlight," Victor Herbert musical
comedy.LIBERTY.'"The Night Boat," musical, farcical comedy.LITTLE "Foot-Loose," story of an adventuress.LYCEUM."The Gold Diggers." Ina Claire in a comedy of chorus girl life.NEW AMSTERDAM."Ziegfeld Follies." Fourteenth of che series.
NORA BAYES*-"Lassie.'' Unique Scotch musical comedy.PLAYHOUSE "Seeing Thing:-." Farce by Margaret Mayo and Aubrey Kennedy.SELWY.N.Ed. Wynn Carnival. Girls, music and comedy.VANDERBILT."Irene," girl and music comedy.WINTER GARDEN "Cinderella on Broadway." Extravaganza.
Oliver Morosco's stock companies. Thenfollowed a long tour of Australia incurrent American successes in cne ofJ. (.'. Williamson's companies, headedby Hale Hamilton. From the An¬tipodes the route leads back to thePacific Coast, where I played in theKlaw &. Erlanger company, appearingin such plays as 'Here Comes theBride' and 'Under Pressure' i, later called'The Love Drive'), which were runningsimultaneously in New York."Then after having traveled from
Boston across the continent to LosAngeles, from there to Australia, backto California for a tour of the Coastcities between Los Angeles and SanFrancisco, 1 finally reached New York,and the Gaiety Theatre has been my'business address' ever since. I owe
nil my present success to WinchellSmith and John Golden, the producers.That certainly is a 'roundabout' wayto Broadway, don't you think? I dare¬say few other players have gone- so
far afield to reach the Mecca of Ameri¬can actors.",
Louise Huff in "Fine Feathers"Louise HuiT has been engaged by the
Metro Film Corporation to appear inthe all-star cast in the forthcomingpicturization of Eugene Walter's "FineFeathers." The picture is beingadapted by Caroline Rosenthal fromthe stage drama.
From Bowery Stage to
Broadway in a Day, IsThis Girl's Record
From the Bowery and Second Avenueto Broadway is the change that came
yesterday into the professional life ofa young eighteen-year-old singer of theEast Side, when Morris Gest, theatricalimpresario, placed her under contract toappear in "Mecca," which F. Ray Corn-stock and Morris Gest will present atthe Century Jheater in September.The young woman's name is Hannah
Toback; she is of Russian parentage, herfather being a musician from Vilna,Russia; she has been playing smallparts in the Jewish theaters of the EastSide since she was eight years old, andpossesses a voice of sweetness andpurity that attracted Mr. Gest.
Miss Toback came to Mr. Gest in hisoffice at the Manhattan Opera Houseyesterday to ask for an appointment.An accompanist was in the theater andMiss Toback sang for him immediately.She sang three songs and Mr. Gest hada contract for five years drawn up im¬mediately.
Miss Toback made her stage début as
a child actress in Thomashefsky's pro¬duction, "Blind Love." Since then shehas supported the best known Jewishactors of the East Side, notably Kess¬ler, Âdler and Benami.
Gail Kane Spends SpareTime Removing NegroTan of "Come Seven !"EFORE she "began playing therole of Vistar Coins, the leaderof the younger set of the negro
belies of the South in "Come Seven!"now at the Broadhurst Theater, GailKane says the most difficult featureshe found about acting on the legiti¬mate stage was how she_should spendher spare time.
. This knotty problem confronted herevery day, because she has just re-turned to the stage after several yearsin motion picture studios, where sheworked strenuously. Her impression,gathered while she was working forthe screen devotees, is that camerawork is mainly a matter of perspira¬tion, not inspiration. However, herexperience, though it did affect hereyes, failed to impair the liveliness ofher disposition.
In "Come Seven!" Miss Kane has no
difficulty in making use of her sparetime. Leisure moments she spends inremoving vestiges of the make-up, forthe brown coloring required by thecharacter Vistar Coins, in which shev.ears a décolleté gown, must not onlybe applied to the face, but to armsand back and chest as well. It is a
very light brown make-up, for she isa "high yaller girl." But wheneverany one looks at her for more than aflash glance she wonders what spot onher fatee she has missed in applying thedo!d cream to erase the dusky Vistar.
"Acting on the stage has a muchgreater stimulus," Miss Kane remarkedthe other day in her home. "In yourstudio you have nothing to spur you on
except, perhaps, some coldly criticalstagehands and maybe a few sightseerswho insist on saying: 'Oh, what are
they doing now?' or else, 'Oh, isn't itsilly!'"Of course it's silly if you don't know
the story. But it would be hopeless totake any curiosity seekers and try toshake the story into their heads. Iknow; I've tried with some of them. Idon't mind playing before people I know,but when strangers come along.well, Icould just choke them!
"That self-consciousness before on¬lookers was something I never quite gotover," she went on, "no inatter how-many times I've taken my position be¬fore the camera.though ordinarily I'mnot afraid of the public when I am on
the stage. They may have said I was
'upstage,' but, just the same, I couldn'tget used to having a lot of bystanders."
"I did many Interiors, which1 shel¬tered me a lot from running the gant¬let of the streets. I didn't do anythrillers. In fact, the most excitingthings I did in the movies were toride horseback and swim."
According to FairyMary Milburn, of "Girl in Spotlight,"Real Heroine of Her Plavyoob ONT take on 50 about the.JlUi girl next door who sings the|r¿¿2j scales morning, noon and
*^" night. Some day she may bethe girl in the spotlight. RememberM*iry Milburn.
Neighbors out in Flatbush used toagonize.or pretend to.while Marywas practicing heavy parts in French,Italian and German opera. Now theyflock to "The Girl in the Spotlight" atthe Knickerbocker Theater for the voicethey used to hear unwillingly. Theypay and they "love it," as P'annie Bricesays.And Mary isn't the only attraction
for the former neighbors--"former''because Mary doesn't live in Flatbushnow, but on Manhattan's upper WestSide within taxi distance of the thea¬ter belt. There's also Ann Milburn,her seventeen-year-old sister, who hasjust made her appearance an exceed¬ingly attractive one--in the chorus of"The Girl in the Spotlight." Ann usedto scout for the Italian with the handorgan who acted as orchestra whenMary would produce "Nick Carter" or"A Modern Cinderella" or "Romeo andiuliet" on the back yard stage. Thenshe would collect the potatoes fromthe public that passed the soap bosticket office into the show. And afteithe performance, with the box offic«feeding a bonfire, Ann would help roasthe potatoes. Yes, the neighbors admit now, as they join the line or
Broadway, that Ann, too,' is decided!;an attraction.
George W. Lederer. producer of "Th«Girl in the Spotlight," says that Mar;Milburn will be a star in anotheyear. And so just for the benerit 0
any girl who is a year or two remove«from the spotlight, let Mary tell ho\she got her first job. And incidental!the story of her career is very like thaof the part of the Greenwich Villaggirl that she plays in Mr. Lederer'production.Mary was born in the village in th
little house still numbered 7 Macdougal Alley. Her real name is M<Kirvey and h,er father is a retired cajtain of the metropolitan police fore.'and I wearied the arm of every hurd;gurdy man that came near Macdoug;¡Alley."The family moved to Flatbush. Mai
became the leading woman in the drmatic society ef Holy Innocents paru'and star of the back yard circuit. Wh<she was old enough to wear her haupon lier héVl she got a job as arapher at $15 a week and spent 1her salary on her voice and <
the piano and the languages of opera."I-worked on heavy parts in 'Sam¬
son and Dalila.' 'Trovatore,' 'Gioconda*and 'Aida,' and at last hit the trailfor the Shubert offices, the Frohmausand all the big producers. But some¬how I could never get past the officeboy. Then I tried the telephone. Igot Arthur Hammerstein's office on thewire and inquired whether he ever hadany public hearing?.
"'Yes. every Tuesday at the CasinoTheater.' I was told."At that time Mr. Hammerstein was
gathering his ensemble for 'Furs andFrills.' On the next Tuesday I wasat the Casino. So were a hundredother girls and more.all expecting toget a try-out. Every girl had a chape¬ron but me. 1 was alone. 1 had prac¬ticed a very difficult aria and was allprimed, though badly scared. Andwould you believe it every one of thefirst thirty-odd girls sang my aria!
" 'Come, come.' cried Mr. Hammer-¿tein. any one else going to sing?'
".'Nobody peeped. Finally I up andspoke. 'I'll sing, if no one else is go-in;: to.'"'What experience have you?'' the
¡mpres; ri ai-ked." 'Well,' Í said, feeling rather securo
in my po; ition. 'I have been leadinglady for the Holy Innocents DramaticSociety.'"He let out a whoop! 'Good Lord!
You don't expect us to star you on thestrength of that, do you? All right,go on. sin«
"1 lost my nerve. The sheet ofmusi I ¦.. red as I passed it to theacccmpai '.*.. It was not the aria, but'The Little Gray Hume in the West.'
"I sang the bist ! could, but to meit seemed poor enough. As I finishedMr. Hammerstein laughed. One lookat 1 is face and I ran out of the thea¬ter as fast ;. 1 <¦ iu d. At FortyS reel 1 was overtaken by a man."'Hey, there,' he called. 'Come back;
Mr. Hammerstein wants to see you!'"'The way you laughed I didn't think
you wanted me,' I explained to Mr.Hammerstein when 1 reached the stage."'"What did you come her«; for?' ho
asked." 'Anything yeu'il give mc,' I re¬
plied.**'A11 right, you're in the chorus!'"And that was my first job!"After the season of 'Furs and Frills'
1 went out in Mr Cort's second 'FloFio' company. Then I ;;ot a job inthe front row of 'Angel Face,' and latera »till better chance in 'Listen, Lester! ' '
And now »he's heroine *f "The Girlin the Spotlight"!
i Rw theatrical Offerings of m íüeek? TUESDAY.At the Central Theater, Forty-seventh Street and Broad- i!
way Lew Fields presents Charles Purcell in "Poor Little Ritz Girl," Xwith Andrew Tombes. The piece Í3 a musical comedy of two acts I
Öand four scenes; music by Richard C. Rodgers, lyrics by Lorenz M. oHart, staged by Ned Wayburn. The cast includes Adele Cleave* f\5 Lulu McConnell, Florence Webber, Eleanor Griffith, Aileen Poe - UEugenie Blair and Elise ßonwit.
